SYRACUSE – Perhaps it took a more winding and difficult path, but the Liverpool baseball team still finds itself playing for the Section III Class AA championship on Memorial Day weekend.
To get it, Liverpool will need to, on Sunday night at Onondaga Community College, conquer Christian Brothers Academy, the no. 2 seed that has avoided the upsets that have dotted the rest of the sectional bracket.
After all the stress of the extra-inning sectional quarterfinal win at Auburn, Liverpool had a far different experience in Thursday night’s semifinal game at OCC, routing no. 8 seed Baldwinsville 13-0.
Even though the Bees had shocked top seed West Genesee in the quarterfinal round two days earlier, it had used most of its good pitchers in two playoff games, and were quickly overwhelmed here.
Liverpool scored in every single inning, capped by a four-run third as B’ville went through seven different pitchers who surrendered 10 hits, walked eight and hit five batters.
Not only did Tyler Vivacqua pitch six shutout innings, he also drove in three early runs to set the tone. Alex Evans doubled and got three RBIs, with Jameson Stevens and Chaz Anthony each driving in a pair of runs. Chris Baker matched Anthony by scoring three times as Gianni Toscano and Mike Henderson had one RBI apiece.
This came after Cicero-North Syracuse nearly upended CBA in the other semifinal, leading early, surrendering that advantage and nearly making it all up before falling 9-7 to the Brothers.
After missing some chances in the first two innings, C-NS chased CBA starter Casey Vaughn in the top of the third, scoring three times, two of them on Lucas Crystal’s double.
Andrew Davis added an RBI triple in the fourth to make it 4-0, but from there the Northstars were kept quiet as Battista Wood, pitching on short rest (he appeared in relief in the quarterfinal game at Utica Proctor two days earlier), tried to preserve the lead.
But the potent CBA lineup broke through in the fifth, netting three runs, then chased Wood in the sixth as Will Harrigan’s triple tied it and Boule’s RBI single put the Brothers in front.
Lucas Theilen relieved Wood but gave up four more runs, and those would prove important.
Down 9-4 in the top of the seventh, C-NS used two walks and a pinch-hit RBI double by Brayden Shannon to cut it to 9-6. Then Carter King singled home Shannon to trim the Brothers’ margin to two. With the tying runs on base, Shacory Williams faced reliever Ryan Petrie – and hit into a game-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
